Tough Lover
by Snow Queen 43
Summary: Iron bull was a mercenary and not one for a long-term relationship, he didn't care for love for a long time, until he came across a day care containing an escaping toddler, little did he know that he and the child's mother, a new, young Inquisitor would end up on one wild ride together.
1. Chapter 1: In the Beginning

Tough lover

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon age or harry potter.

* * *

Summary: Iron bull was a mercenary and not one for a long-term relationship, he didn't care for love for a long time, until he came across a day care containing an escaping toddler, little did he know that he and the child's mother, a new, young Inquisitor would end up on one wild ride together.

* * *

Hey lovelies

I'm sorry for the lack of updates on my end but I've had a bunch of things happen to me all at once and I'm not going to explain here but here's a new story, read review and enjoy.

Love

Snow

* * *

Chapter 1: in the beginning

Iron bull was a curious, he heard about the day care members of the inquisition, military, even mercenary groups would leave their children in their care of. He believed it to be a rumour, but there it was not even four doors down from the Singing Maiden, with bright painted handprints on the windowpanes, along with several young attendants in bright blue aprons chasing after the children. Bull sat outside of the Singing Maiden when he felt something small collide with his leg, when he looked down, he was surprised to see that it was a toddler crawling for everything he was worth, hair colour changing rapidly as he redoubled his efforts causing Bull to laugh at the boy's effort and scoop him up, all the while the toddler was still trying to crawl in mid-air, hair starting to flash between red and blue in frustration.

"easy there, little man" said Bull clutching on to the toddler by the back of the peculiar one-piece article of clothing he was wearing.

"Teddy, there you are!" came a relieved voice from one of the workers who was sprinting up to Bull and taking him from the mercenary.

"he really has energy" commented Bull lightly, watching Teddy squirming in an effort to escape.

"I know, we just wish he'd put his energy into something other than escaping the playpen" the woman explained before she thanked him for stopping Teddy's escape before carrying the toddler back to the day care.

As the day continued to roll on, Iron bull continued to watch the world go by, and he quickly noticed how often the toddler, Teddy escaped the day care, while he did find it amusing he did have sympathies for his watchers especially since they had to chase after him, he also watched as parents came and collected their children as the afternoon went by, until Teddy was the only child left at the day care. It made Bull wonder if his parents where running late, until just as the shop keepers where putting their merchandise away and the sun was starting to set a young woman came running to the day care.

"Momma! Momma!" came the high-pitched voice of Teddy, as an attendant carried him out to her. This exclamation of momma from the toddler surprized Bull, not wanting to believe that this young woman was the boy's mother, sister maybe but not mother.

"hey, sweetie, I'm sorry momma was late, I had to much mean paperwork to do" she said in a warm gentle tone.

"Inquisitor! Before you go, we need to discuss something with you" exclaimed the attendant, causing the pair to go inside.

Bull was now even more shocked, that young woman was an inquisitor! But she had to be only a teenager at the least! It was a surprize to say the least, yet he wondered how she had managed to earn such a high rank so quickly.

It was ten minutes before the woman exited from the day care with an agitated expression on her face carrying a sleeping Teddy, quietly plodding down the street. This was when Bull managed to get a really good look at her appearance, she was fairly short for an adult, with long raven black hair, trailing behind her in the spring breeze, skin paler than white marble and eyes the colour of Malachite's, she was wearing a long brown leather coat, white blouse, black trousers and brown riding boots, her entire look was completed with a sword hanging from her belt, a rapier if the ornate hilt had anything to go by, it gave Bull the impression that she was a spoilt princess. little did he know how untrue his impression was.

Meanwhile, Inquisitor Eve Belduke formerly known as Iris Eve Potter, The girl who lived, the woman who conquered, was tired, she had been in Thedas for nine months and only now was getting used to things, she had worked hard to get her position and had made a better life for herself and Teddy, she wondered why she had to be the one to move and start over. Eve sighed sadly as she looked down at her son, she was in despair knowing that Teddy would never know Remus or Tonks, he was her of his generation, after the war things did change both for the better and the worse.

It all started with a mere trip to Gringotts and the reading of the wills of not only her parents but Sirius too, she had learned of many things, not only had people had been stealing from her but it was the people she had trusted most that had stolen from her, Dumbledore had stolen close to three million galleons and used it to pay Ron and Hermione as well as Ginny to be her friends as well as keep her isolated from others in order to prevent her from learning the truth, there was an illegal marriage contract between her and the Weasley family which was immediately voided, the goblin debt collector Ballbreaker was quite happy to retrieve all stolen funds with interest, as well as void the contract.

The betrayers where publicly arrested and charged, for theft, attempted line theft, use of illegal substances (they tried to use love potions on her as well), as well as a slew of other charges, this led to them spending ten years in Azkaban each, by this time Eve was fed up with everything, so with the help of the goblins she left for Thedas, when she arrived she studied literature, language, maths, philosophy and exorcisms, swordsmanship and so much more garnering the attention of the advisors who hired her out right allowing her to work and raise Teddy safely, one thing that irritated her was her fellow Inquisitor Zacarias Barnham, he was constantly asking her out, inviting her for drinks it got to the point to him cornering Eve in her office and her kicking him in the crotch in order for her to escape.

Another thing that bothered her was the amount of time she had to devote to her job, meaning she had less time for Teddy, so she made arrangements for him to go to day care so he could learn how to interact with other children, only for Teddy to suddenly turn into a mini Houdini and continually, an enchanted playpen was purchased to no avail, and when she collected that evening she was threatened with Teddy's expulsion if she couldn't teach him not to escape. Angry with this threat Eve suggested some parental barrier spells to keep the children in the day care, effectively embarrassing the owner who kept headbutting the desk muttering the words "stupid" over and over again as Eve paid for Teddy's week in the day care and took him home.

"I really don't know what to do with you Teddy, I know you don't want me to leave you at the day care but I have to work and you need to learn how to be with other children" Eve said softly as she approached an opulent manor house, a footman opening the door as she arrived.

"Welcome home Ma'm" he said warmly as she entered the house.

"Thank you, Maxwell, you can retire for the night, as can the rest of the staff" replied Eve quietly, pulling off her coat and hanging it up, "Has Fenrir been fed?"

Fenrir was a rare black nakk that Eve had rescued upon her arrival in Thedas, a magical wolf like creature that could transform from the size of a kitten to the size of a shire horse and he was fiercely loyal to Eve, yet wonderfully gentle with Teddy, he acted not only as a guard but a powerful mount as well. While Eve was at work Fenrir was left to wonder the manor and its grounds, he enjoyed curling up in warm places while in his small form both inside and out. Sometimes he would try and smuggle his way into Eve's place of work by climbing into her coat pocket, however he would always be caught at the last second.

"Yes, he has, and as you wish Ma'm, I've taken the liberty of preparing a pot of tea for you and cook has prepared the young master's dinner" said Maxwell kindly smiling as he left to relieve the other staff of their duties for the night. Eve headed towards the kitchen grabbed teddy's dinner (mashed vegetables), and walked up to the dining room struggling between carrying Teddy, who wouldn't stop squirming, and carrying his dinner.

Once in the dining room and the bowl of beige mush was placed on the table and set Teddy in his highchair, Eve sat down beside him and began to feed him, however Teddy decided to be difficult and try to avoid eating, Eve sighed, knowing it was going to be a long evening.

In the meantime, Iron Bull was lying in bed with his latest "partner" for the night, his mind wondering elsewhere, towards a certain green-eyed Inquisitor she was an enigma, strange and new, and a virgin if his nose didn't tell him any better, that toddler wasn't hers by blood any way. If he was honest with himself, he thought the girl to be quite fetching in appearance, sure she was short, but she was slim and quite aristocratic in appearance, while she gave off the appearance of the spoiled princess there was an air of tiredness and anger that only came with being a warrior, it didn't seem fitting to her, he wondered if there was more to her than met the eye, only time would tell especially since he didn't know if he'd end up working with her.

_In the night_

Eve was in her private library, while Teddy was in his cot in the nursery, dreaming a vivid and colourful dream. Eve was catching up on her magical learning, tonight she opted to focus on healing spells and potions, revising everything, even getting in some practice on some of the most basic spells, _Sutura _the suturing spell for open cuts, the multi-purpose _Sana_ spell, however she quickly learned that if she wanted to heal specific wounds, like bruises she'd have to say _Sana Contrition, _however the hardest spell to learn was the bone setting spell, _Ponite ossa fracta, _this spell was particularly difficult mainly because if you set the bones incorrectly, it'll be painful to correct the mistake.

As the night went on Eve gave reading a rest and went downstairs and out onto the terrace overlooking the gardens and looked up at the stars, watching them glitter beautifully with each passing second. Eve enjoyed watching the stars especially the dog star, it made her think of her late beloved godfather, she missed Sirius and Remus terribly, and it got worse every day. sighing Eve turned around, went back inside and went to bed, completely oblivious to what fate had in store for her the next day.

Iron bull couldn't sleep, his mind kept wondering back and forth from that afternoon to the toddler and his mother, the inquisitor, it was odd, he never paid that much thought to a person before, he could sense there was something was off about her, it was like lightening hanging in the air, he didn't like it, or know what to do about it. So, he decided to wait and see if he was assigned to do some jobs with her, if only to get some idea of what her true colours where.

_The next morning_

Eve woke up, washed dressed and did the same for Teddy, after feeding Teddy, Eve dropped him off at the day care, and went onwards towards Skyhold and to work. Working as an Inquisitor was a stressful job, from interrogations to the paper work, everyone cursed the paperwork, and Eve still had yet to be given a field job. However the worst thing she had to deal with was a fellow Inquisitor called Zacarias Barnham, he always came by her office either to ask her out for drinks or lunch and every time she'd decline, but he was persistent, to the point she'd have to kick him out of her office (or in the balls she wasn't picky) and lock everyone else out, while she focused on her work.

Iron bull was confused, he'd received a summons to Skyhold for a job, while normally he'd go and ask, but today he was summoned and he didn't know why. He'd never been summoned before so it had to be important for him and the Chargers to be involved. When he and the Chargers arrived at Skyhold, they were told to wait in the atrium while the advisor went and spoke to the Inquisitor they'd be working with. It was a ten-minute wait before the mercenary group before the advisor returned with the Inquisitor, much to Bull's surprise it was the young female Inquisitor he saw the previous evening.

"Gentlemen, meet Inquisitor Eve Belduke" said the advisor introducing her to the group

"Are you sure that she's the one where working with?" asked Bull, raising an eye brow in curiosity.

"Yes, are you questioning my judgment?" responded the advisor.

"No, it's just, what about her child?" countered Bull, however before the advisor could say anything, the Inquisitor cut across them.

"My son will be fine for a few days, I have people who can look after him while I'm working, anyway the community we're being sent to needs our help and skillset, both physical power and diplomatic power" explained Eve, irritated that she was being talked about like she wasn't stood before them.

"don't forget spiritual power, after all you are our only qualified exorcist as of yet" exclaimed the advisor, as if he was a proud father to a gifted child.

"Well, I've done the research and training, but I don't know if I can handle doing an exorcism on my own yet," said Eve nervously, looking down.

"This is why I've enlisted the help of Iron bull and the bull's chargers to join you on this job, seeing as it'll also be your first time in the field" said the Advisor calmly, trying to reassure Eve.

"It's not that, exorcisms can be dangerous not only to the person going through the procedure but the surrounding people too" explained Eve, warily.

"then it's a good that you know, it'll make you more aware of the situation" crowed the Advisor, causing Eve to sigh. She knew he meant well but it was still nerve wracking to think that she'd be having her first field job, and she'd be reliant on complete strangers for back up.

"Anyway, when do we set off?" Interrupted Bull, before the Advisor could say any more.

"tomorrow morning" said the Advisor bluntly, after he managed to calm down, handing her a scroll, containing a brief about their job, location, information about the afflicted and potential dangers and observations from the priest who required aid.

"looks like a case, similar to one from where I came from, someone's bought a possessed item then the entity tricks them leading to the person nearly getting possessed themselves" Eve muttered under her breath as she read on.

"So how do we deal with it?" asked one of the chargers.

"we need a lot of holy water for one thing and probably fire, salt and silver" said Eve listing ways to fight demons and spirits, making several members of the Chargers shudder as she continued to mutter.

"why don't you go home and prepare Inquisitor Belduke" said the Advisor, calmly before turning around and heading back into the maze of corridors.

"Well, you don't say?" said Eve, sarcasm echoing through her voice, before she turned around and walked towards her office to collect her coat and any necessary paperwork.

"Cushy office" came a voice from behind her, it was Iron bull.

"Not that cushy" she replied.

Bull looked around the office, it was a decent sized room, with a large desk inside and a cosy looking leather chair, floor to ceiling bookshelves and a few cabinets for her documents, a few small knick-knacks randomly displayed throughout the room, and on the desk was a framed, detailed image of the toddler he had seen the previous day, her son.

"I've never seen portraits like this before" said Bull softly.

"People keep saying that, and I keep telling them I don't know the artist" she replied picking up the portrait, and smiling, the photograph of her son was probably one of her most prized possessions, she remembered the day she took the photo, it was a happy day.

"Well, best get going" said Eve with a chipper tone as she left the room, shutting and locking the door. Bull walked with Eve back to the atrium and was once again greeted by the Chargers.

"So where do we meet tomorrow?" asked one of the Chargers.

"I'll collect the Inquisitor from her home in the morning" sighed Bull, "just be ready in the town square, ok" he continued before turning to Eve.

"Let me, guess you need to know where I live, so you can collect me" said Eve exasperated.

"yes" replied Bull.

"I live in the old Barde Mansion; you can't miss it" explained Eve as she put her coat on and leave the building. Bull dismissed the chargers for the night, however Bull himself decided to tail the Inquisitor, if only to know where he was going to collect her from.

The first location Eve went to was the day care, surprising the workers with the early collection.

"I'm going away for a while, so I want to spend some time with him before I go" she explained softly as she soothed the squirming toddler.

"Good luck, and behave for you mother Teddy" chimed one of the assistants smiling and waving at Teddy as he and Eve started the rest of the journey home, both unaware of the Qunari following them until...

"Man!" cried Teddy, causing Eve to stop and look at him.

"What is that Teddy" asked Eve in a soft and slightly silly voice.

"Man! Mummy Man!" exclaimed Teddy again, pointing his chubby fingers over her shoulder, causing Eve to look over her shoulder only to see that there was nothing there. Bull had managed to duck into a shop door before Eve could see him, he didn't take account of how observant toddlers could actually be.

"There's no one there, Teddy" said Eve gently, as she started walking again.

Bull sighed as he came out of his hiding place and continue tailing Eve and her son, hoping that the toddler wouldn't catch him again. He spent a few minutes following pair, until they arrived at what looked like a mansion crossed over with a castle. It looked almost whimsical with two towers and flying buttresses, everything was enclosed by a high wall, it looked quite forbidding from the outside though Bull imagined that once through the gate it gave a much kinder face, however he'd have to find out in the morning.

Meanwhile Eve had managed to sit down and play with Teddy for a while, then feed him and bath him, Teddy for the first few minutes, crying and splashing in protest, until Eve pulls out his rubber ducky causing him to squeal with joy. Once bath time was over, Eve dressed teddy in another baby grow and placed him in his cot and began to read him a story, before going back to her room and preparing for the journey.

First, Eve pulled out a small shoulder bag that she'd placed an expansion charm on and placed it on her bed then went and fetched other things she'd need, her magical tent, a few sets of clothes, her wash bag, job brief, exorcism gear, map and a few other items, she also went down to the kitchen and got some food ingredients for evening meals (she chose Chilli con carne and stew) and filled a canteen with water. Once everything was packed and ready to go, Eve settled down for the night. During the night she heard a soft pitter patter of paws come in to her room, and the small weight of Fenrir curling up at her toes.

_The next morning_

Eve woke up early and got ready for the start of the journey, and was speaking to the staff, she had decided to entrust them with Teddy's care before looking in on the sleeping toddler before heading downstairs and grabbing her sword and coat with a sleepy kitten like Fenrir tucked away in a pocket. Just as Eve was about to leave and loud hammering reverberated through the entrance hall.

"Whoever it is, if they've woken Teddy there'll be hell to pay" Eve growled before opening the door, only to be greeted by Iron Bull.

"You ready?" was all the Qunari could ask once he saw the look on her face.

"Yes, and if you've woken Teddy, I'll not be happy" growled Eve glaring at Bull.

"Sorry, have you got your gear?" he responded; Eve nodded clutching her shoulder bag, causing Bull to raise an eyebrow.

"You sure? I thought I'd come early to help you with any luggage" he asked.

"I've got what I need in my bag here" she replied indicating to the shoulder bag before stepping out of the manor and walking out towards the town square, with Bull hot on her heels.

Eve walked in silence once again referring back to the brief, looking at the village name they were supposed head to. Midburn was a very small village at the foot of the Hunter horn mountains a solid three days' worth of travelling, making her glad that she had Fenrir with her. Bull on the other hand, was curious about Eve's behaviour, however he'd quickly learned to not question Inquisitors actions, however there was a lot about Eve that sparked intreague, he'd asked the other advisers, Cassandra and Cullen, and they admitted they didn't know much about her outside of being a workaholic, exorcist and single parent, though Cullen mentioned that she was a more than competent sword fighter, acrobat (gymnast) and hand to hand fighter, he almost sounded bitter about it, it made Bull mentally chuckle at the Templar's petulance towards the young Inquisitor, it was like looking at a prepubescent child it was quite comical to the Qunari.

Once the pair where at the town square they were greeted by the rest of the chargers, and began their journey to Midburn, just as the sun began to rise.


	2. Chapter 2: Real work starts now!

Chapter 2: real work starts now

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or Harry Potter.

* * *

Hey lovelies

you know about what's going on, but I'm basically stuck at home as well and can't go to work, so I'm going to write as much as I can while I'm at home.

Anyway, here is the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it, please read, review and leave a suggestion if you so want.

Stay positive, support each other here and have hope for the future in these uncertain times.

Love

Snow.

P.s please check out An English Flower in the Cherry Blossoms, Quirks personified and Danganronpa: Harems heart and leave some reviews on them please as well as any suggestions too.

* * *

The group trudged through the landscape, they had walked through grasslands, marshes and baron salt flats, they trekked through forests, and small villages receiving strange looks from the residents along the way. No one had much to say on the subject of the job, many of the Charger's where uncomfortable with the notion of an exorcism, it sent shivers down their spines and set them on edge.

While Bull walked with Eve at the front of the party silently walking beside each other, little did Eve know that Bull was observing her trying to make sense of the woman, he gathered that she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and that she was a mere student before the inquisition had unceremoniously commandeered her life for their own purposes, however he knew that the inquisition wouldn't have done this if she didn't show the potential for it.

He could also sense a dual nature with-in her as well, the very public walking blizzard persona, and the loving mother behind closed doors, but he noted that there hidden beneath the façade that he couldn't place his finger on, her clothes say palace brat, while her actions say hardened soldier, she was a riddle, one that Ben-Hassrath training couldn't help him with solve, he figured that she'd open up with time.

"You know, I've been wondering, why my advisors hired you and the chargers to escort me on this job" said Eve off handedly, not even bothering to look at Bull.

"I believe they wanted me to be your bodyguard and the Chargers to act as back up should it go ass over tits" he explained.

"There's no reason why it should, I mean it's only a possessed object, I know I'm only fresh out of training, but the training itself was very comprehensive" said Eve, "the only way it can go wrong is if the entity inside the object possesses a member of the local populous, then it really won't be pretty" continued she to explain, putting her hand in the pocket that Fenrir was in and scratched his ears, causing him to whine in annoyance.

"So, what would you do?" asked Bull, watching Eve take Fenrir out and allowed him to climb up her arm and drape himself over her shoulders.

"I'd have to perform an exorcism on the person and pray that the person makes a swift recovery" answered Eve raising a hand to continue to pet Fenrir.

"Oh" was all that Bull could say. Before carrying on in silence. The rest of the day's walking was carried out in silence, it wasn't long before the sun began to set, however the group had only completed a third of the journey, so Bull gave the order to set up camp, Eve surprised everyone by pulling a large tent out of her bag and began to put it up, Fenrir Jumping off of her shoulder and sat nearby as she went about her business.

"Where did that come from!" exclaimed one of the Chargers in alarm.

"Never under estimate what a woman keeps in her hand bag" said another Charger, watching Eve and Fenrir go inside.

"They're mysterious things, both women and their bags" an Elvin member of the chargers muttered as he gathered fire wood. While, Eve had entered her tent, revealing the hidden depths inside, she was grateful for buying it before she left London, it cost a lot more than she wanted to pay but it was worth it in her mind, especially since she had to spend a month in the tent while the manor being restored to a inhabitable condition. It had everything, an Alaskan king size bed, a cooking range with pots and pans, an ice box, a shower area, sofa, Teddy's travel cot (she'd forgotten to take it out before leaving) and a basket for Fenrir to sleep in, which Fenrir instantly made himself comfortable in and continued to watch his mistress as she made her way to the kitchen area.

The first thing she did was stoke the range, adding coal and logs to it and stoking it until she had to open the tent flaps so she didn't collapse from the heat, once the range was ready, Eve pulled out her ingredients from the icebox and started to prepare the meal as well as putting food down for her furry companion. Fenrir yipped in gratitude as he dug in, purring slightly as the little nakk chowed down, once he'd finished, he once again clambered into his basket and settled down.

She chose chilli con carne because of its simplicity, it had quickly became a favourite of hers when she was on the hunt for the Horcruxes especially since she could portion it out and store it for the next stop, she also loved the spices, particularly the thermic effect of the chilli's she used, she used a combination of dried Indian chilli's, mild Caribiana chilli and a couple of birds eye chilli's.

Eve smiled as she loved to pile on the heat, seeing as she still had nightmares of those cold nights on the run, she never wanted to cold like that ever again. Once everything was prepped, Eve got cooking, carefully frying garlic and onions, adding spices, then browning the meat, adding chopped tomatoes, a pint of stock as well as salt and pepper, then brought it to the boil.

Just as she got the pot boiling, and had sat down on the sofa with one of her reference books while she waited for the stock to reduce, she was interrupted by the sound of someone entering her tent. It was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, with a marine cut hair style, light brown eyes and wearing armour that was too big for him.

"Boss is about to send people for food" he began to say before Eve stood up to check on the cooking pot on the range, removing the lid, causing steam to billow out of it, filling the tent with the aroma of the chilli.

"No need, tell the others and Bull that I've got the food covered" she said smiling, the man nodded, before Eve frowned at not knowing his name.

"By the way I don't believe we've met, I'm Eve, or Inquisitor Belduke pending on who you ask" Eve introduced herself as she picked up a spoon to stir the pot.

"Cremisius, Krem for short" he replied before walking over to the pot and looked in it out of curiosity, "what is it your cooking?" he asked.

"It's called chilli con carne, it's considered a campers delicacy, and I'm inclined to agree" explained Eve proudly, as she grabbed another cooking pot, and a jerry can of water, filling the pot and putting it on the range next to the chilli.

"Ok, I'll let the others know that you're feeding us tonight" said Krem exiting the tent, yelling for everyone to be ready and that Eve was cooking dinner already.

Meanwhile outside of Eve's tent, Bull and the others were surprized to hear that the Inquisitor had already cooked the evening meal, they wondered what it was, the chargers had never heard of chilli con carne before so they wondered what it was. From what Krem had described, it seemed to be a fiery dish, that consisted of meat, beans and sauce, and the Inquisitor had just put another pot on to cook.

It was ten minutes, before Eve came out with the Chili and a large bowl of rice as well, every one gathered around her as she dished up the food. However, once they dug into their meal, they began to feel the heat, a few of them, Krem included had beads of sweat running down their faces, Bull ate contentedly, the spices not seeming to bother him, however his stomach was burning from the sheer amount of spice in the food. Meanwhile Eve had finished her first helping and was helping herself to a second one, not noticing how everyone else was reacting to it, until she looked up from her bowl and saw everyone's expressions.

"Oh dear! I put too much spice in for you guys, didn't I?" she exclaimed apologetically, while many of the chargers nodded, while both Krem and Bull continued to fight the fire, Bull succeeding more than Krem who was sweating buckets, skin going red and blotchy from the excess heat.

"Next time I'll make a bit milder for you guys" said Eve franticly, as the others agreed with her.

"Don't worry about them, it'll be a test of endurance" Bull joked until he saw Eve's slightly worried expression.

"Next time I'll be more careful" she simply said, trying to calm down.

Everyone continued to eat what they could before the spice became too much for them to take. Once back in her tent Eve used a cleaning spell for the dishes, and made herself more tea for the night, pondering what the next few days would bring her and the others. An exorcism wasn't a joke, especially if it got out of hand, and it most likely would, she just hoped the situation hasn't already escalated.

The next morning Eve was up before dawn, making sure that Fenrir was in her coat pocket. It was surprising everyone else when they woke up to do the same just as the sun rose, to find that the Inquisitor was ahead of them, from there they once again started walking towards Midburn.

They were walking down a wooded road, when Bull began to notice something, it was quiet, way too quiet, there where normally noises in the woods regardless of how quiet it was, but now it was silent as the grave, not a good sign. Suddenly there was a loud snapping sound, coming from the left side of the group, Bull acted immediately, grabbing Eve and pushing her behind him acting as a shield, whilst observing the area, the reaction was instant, a group of fifteen bandits launched themselves out of the undergrowth, hoping to kill Bull and the Chargers and take Eve for ransom to the Inquisition.

"Get down" Bull yelled to Eve, lifting his blade and swinging it, cutting two of the bandits in half, he continued to hack and slash at the bandits not bothering to look behind him to see if Eve was alright, until he heard a series of loud thwacks, followed by a series of thuds and splats, causing him to look over his shoulder and see Eve with her rapier drawn, quickly cutting down her fair share of bandits.

"Hey, leave some for us" came the amused exclamation of Krem as he fought two bandits back, watching as both Bull and Eve fight the bandits as if they were in competition with each other.

Once the fight was over Krem went over the bandits that weren't decapitated or hacked to pieces with the throat cutters, it was odd for the group to go through a fight without a single injury, even stranger was the fact that the Inquisitor had played an active role in the fight.

"Is every one ok? No missing limbs that weren't already missing?" asked Eve, receiving a laugh in response before setting off once again.

"How did you do that?" asked Bull, amazed at Eve's capabilities.

"Do what?" asked Eve, not paying full attention to Bull, as she wiped off the blade of her sword, sheathing it afterwards.

"Fight the way you did" answered Bull.

"I was taught" was Eve's only response, as she continued to walk on, staring at the horizon all the while.

The group walked for four more hours until they had to once again pitch up for the night, where they ate, drank and made merry. After a while, Eve decided to take a walk to clear her head and prepare herself for the oncoming struggle.

Suddenly there was a crunching sound followed by someone slipping and a shocked yell, followed by an even louder crunch of sticks and an agonising scream of pain, breaking Eve out of her thoughts and causing her to run towards where the noise came from, as soon she arrived she was greeted with a sight so amusing that for lack of better words, caused her to laugh so hard she fell to her knees.

It had turned out one of the chargers, needed to answer the call of nature so he went to do so, only to slip in some mud and tumble down a small embankment, and into a briar patch all with his trousers around his ankles, unfortunately this had allowed him to get thorns in many uncomfortable places, as well as enough embarrassment to last him a life time one Eve found him, only to start laughing.

"It's not funny" came an irritated voice.

"Oh, goodness, I'm sorry" called Eve, wiping some tears away and pulling herself to her feet, "are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine but it'll take a while to remove the thorns though" he replied standing up and gingerly pulling up her trousers, wincing as he did so.

"Come on, I'll help you, but you're dealing with the knob job ok" offered Eve, kindly, stretching out her arm to help him up, which he gladly took, and they walked back to Eve's tent, where she dug out the first aid kit as well as two pairs of tweezers and they worked together removing the thorns, he would wince every time a thorn came out, however the real battle came was when Eve brought out the anti-septic.

"now this is going to sting" she warned him, before applying it. The resounding scream, was heard for miles to come, scaring all of the birds from surrounding trees, causing Fenrir to howl in pain from the noise and alerting Bull and the Chargers.

"What the Fuck?" demanded Bull, walking over to Eve's tent and opening the flaps to see what was going on. Where he witnessed Eve administering first aid to one of his men.

"Stitches what did you do now" he asked.

"Slipped boss" Stitches replied.

"Do I need any more information?" asked Bull, Stitches shook his head.

"Then why where you screaming?" Bull calmly asked.

"That was my fault, but I warned him" explained Eve, Bull just nodded and left the tent. After Bull had left, Stitches turned to Eve with a look of shock, pain and mild anguish.

"What the fuck was that you used on me?" he exclaimed.

"It was anti-septic, to prevent the cuts from getting infected" explained Eve as she continued to clean the tiny cuts, once she was finished, she handed the anti-septic to Stitches so he could finish cleaning his wounds. After a few minutes Eve left the tent and sat by the fire with Fenrir on her lap, the nakk was behaving in an attempt to comfort her after what she went through, watching the flames flicker in the dark.

"You ok" came Bull's voice from behind her.

"If I have to pull another thorn from his ass, I'll push him back into the briar patch" Eve muttered irritated. Bull chuckled and sat down beside her.

"why do I get the feeling this is Stitches fault?" he rhetorically asked. Eve sighed and continued to watch the flames, gently petting Fenrir, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

Not long after that Eve once again retreated to her tent for the night hoping that the next day would be less stressful for her, and that she wouldn't be playing nurse to a clumsy mercenary.

The next morning Eve woke before the sun came up and packed up her things, fed herself and Fenrir and was waiting for the others, watching the sun go up, smiling slightly as she watched Bull and the Chargers get up one by one, grumbling as they got ready to continue the walk towards Midburn.

"Are they always like this in the morning?" asked Eve, looking at Bull, while she lifted Fenrir back into her coat pocket.

"Not all the time, just when they've had too much to drink the night before" Bull replied, causing Eve to roll her eyes as they began the last leg of the journey. As they walked the woodland transitioned into quarry's with cliff that could put the coast to shame and moorlands, the colours unfolded from the rich purple of heather and the sunny yellow of gorse to the bright green of the bracken fronds forcing their way dull brown of the dead grass, soon moorlands gave way to farmland with rich dark soil, striped green with new crops growing, shire horses pulling ploughs at the guidance of plodding plough boys, for Eve these where truly sights to see, she loved to see people in this way, I reminded her of the train journeys to Hogwarts watching the world go by from her compartment window.

"We're getting close" said Eve, her face brightening at the thought of their destination and seeing to getting rid of that possessed item, the sooner that was over the sooner she could go home to Teddy.

"How do you know?" asked Krem.

"Look at the horizon, as well as the surrounding land, Midburn was known for not only the grown produce and dairy products but their mines for coal, gold and other deposits in the ground" explained Eve, pointing at the mountains dead ahead of them.

"Ah so if we keep going down this road, we should find the village in no time" clarified Krem quickly.

"Exactly, after that accommodations will be on the agenda, so we'll scout for an inn to stay in for a couple of nights" Eve continued.

After half an hour, they arrived in the heart of the village, just as Eve Predicted, however it was far from the bustling hub that Eve had read about, the square was often filled with stalls selling everything from herbs and spices to meat and poultry or other things like baskets, fruits and vegetables. However, the silence was almost deafening, the smell of fear hung in the air like a smog, dark and foul. The only signs of life where the light in people's windows and smoke billowing out of their chimneys.

"Boss! Over here" called Krem, who was pointing towards a building, it was an Inn called The Tasty Ingot.

"Good call, some where to stay and people to get information from" said Eve, calmly approaching the Inn and opening the door.

The Inn was fairly standard in appearance for Thedas, stone floors, with tables and chairs placed at random, a big hard wood bar with bottles, kegs and casks on display, local beer tankards hanging from the beams, horse brasses, farming and mining equipment on the walls demonstrating the Midburns history, along with a colourful cast of locals all watching them closely. Eve quietly walked up to the bar and called over the barmaid.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked looking at Eve with suspicion.

"me and my associates are looking for a room for a couple of nights, would you be able to accommodate us?" asked Eve politely.

"Ok I'll talk to the land lord" the girl said quickly, heading into a backroom. A few minutes later the land lord came out.

"It'll cost you ten gold pieces a night to stay here, ok" said the land lord gruffly. Eve sighed and handed the greasy, balding, potbellied man the relevant amount of money and was shown her way to her room by the bar maid. The room was fairly sparse with a large bed, table and chair.

"Breakfast is downstairs at eight, the bathroom is down the hallway, food stops at ten at night and the bar closes at eleven" explained the bar maid smiling, handing Eve her room key before heading back down stairs, to handle the others. Fenrir chose this moment to climb out of her pocket and explore the room, sniffing the furniture in curiosity before jumping up onto the chair and curling up once again ignoring his owner, who was trying to get him to get off of the chair.

Sighing, Eve gave up and sat down on the bed pulling the job brief out of her bag and re-reading it. Eve narrowed her eyes, when she found the name of the person who sent for her, it was a priest, more specifically the priest for the village who was claiming that a local family was in danger from a possessed doll, Eve made a mental note to speak to him. After a few minutes Eve went back down stairs to be greeted with Bull who had seated himself by a window facing the square.

"Hey, Boss, everything ok?" asked Bull, taking a large glug of ale from a tankard, Eve nodded as she approached him sitting opposite him.

"So, you going to have a drink?" he asked.

"No, I've got to refrain from drinking until this is over" Eve replied.

"I see" said Bull, trying to understand her reasoning, but he didn't understand how anyone could say no to a drink.

"Well, I've got to go and find this priest starting with the church" said Eve getting to her feet and heading to the door, causing Bull to chug back the rest of his ale and get up so he could keep up with her. The odd pair walked cross the square towards a small side road, following the sign posts for the church, until they came to a cast wrought iron gate.

Eve opened the gate and walked down the dirt path towards the church, through a sea tomb stones until they arrived at a large, simple yet imposing church, the building itself was made of grey granite, with a slate tiled roof and a tall bell tower with crenulations at the top, it gave Eve the feeling that the priest was of the fire and brimstone variety of preacher.

As they continued making their way inside Bull and Eve made note of their surroundings, the floor was paved with slate, the wooden pew's gathering dust, and the once brightly coloured windows now dulled with age, rodents had left their marks in various different places in the form of chewed hassocks and bat droppings in the empty font. They carried on walking, the heavy thuds from their boots echoing and small clouds of dust.

"Welcome, to our humble house of God" came a soft voice from the vestry, causing Eve to swerve around to see who was speaking. It was a tall slender gentleman in a black cassock and white dog collar.

"Are you Father O'mara?" asked Eve.

"Yes, can I help you?" he responded.

"I'm Inquisitor Belduke, I was sent to help you with a possessed item" Eve introduced herself.

"Oh, my and I was expecting a man to arrive, forgive me, but the situation has unfortunately escalated" explained the priest flustered at his assumptions being wrong.

"What happened?" asked Eve sharply.

"The Merchant who bought the doll, the demonic spirit possessing it, possessed his daughter" explained Father O'mara with a grave expression on his face.

"Oh, no" said Eve, with worry.

"Her family has allowed be to detain her in the crypt here" he explained to Eve.

"Take me to her" instructed Eve sternly, causing the priest to gulp nervously.

"This way" he simply said walking towards a small door embedded in the wall, pulling out a key and unlocking the door, hands shaking as if he were unlocking the very door to hell itself. Once unlocked he opened the door and stepped aside allowing both Eve and Bull to walk down a narrow passageway into the crypt to meet a challenge, they'd both never faced before.


End file.
